blokeinthekitchen

Veg Curry

2011-11-30T20:52:00.001Z

Right, I'm writing this as much so I don't forget as to let you know the recipe.

I wanted a veg recipe that I knew I could gorge on when I'm training and wanting carbs and, as I love curry so much, there was only one contender. A veg curry.

Ok, here goes.

Sweat a sliced onion in plenty of vegetable oil, along with 6 cloves, 6 cardamom pods, 1 heaped teaspoon (ish) of ground coriander, turmeric, paprika and ground chilli, 1 diced carrot and a handful of finely chopped garlic.

Once softened, chuck in a few handfuls of diced swede and, the magic ingredient, 50g or so of ground almonds. Stir through then throw in a tin of plum tomatoes, the tomato tin full of water and a good dose of salt and pepper.

Bring to the boil then chuck in a few handfuls of cubed swede.

Boil the bejeezuz out of it for 8-10 minutes until it thickens.

Finally, stir in a tin of drained chick peas and a chunkily chopped red pepper. Turn off the heat, cover the pan then leave while you cook your pilau rice.

I'm not going to bore you with how to cook rice. I've covered it at least once on this here blog so do a search and you're sure to find it.

Serve up the curry with the pilau rice and a very generous scattering of roughly chopped coriander or parsley. Oh, and I'm eating it with a rather large and delicious glass of Rodolfo Sadler/Opi Malbec.

Enjoy!

Lol Curry

2011-08-23T17:52:00.001+01:00

Quick one. One of my favourite dishes in that it uses up leftovers and it's damn tasty.

I call it lol curry, not because it's funny but because of it's main ingredient; left over lamb. This is the remnants of Sunday's shoulder of lamb that I left in the oven for 5 hours on 140 degrees with a few litres of chicken stock and a glass of red wine while I went out for a few beers with my old mate Bobbo who was visiting from Spain.

Anyway, I've covered the recipe before, more or less, here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/lovely-leftovers.html so I won't bore you with it again.

Come to think of it, the main point of this post was really just to say that I'm using the first of my home-grown chillies tonight in place of the dried chilli mentioned in the recipe (which I generally only use because I'm very lazy).

Anyway, must go. Curry to eat!

The Bloke

A Brief Round-up

2011-08-04T17:50:00.003+01:00

Sunday, 31st July - Tuesday, 2nd August.

Right, the weather's taken a bit of a turn in the last few days and the food hasn't really been up to much either but we have found other stuff to occupy us though.

First, Sunday. The weather here in São Martinho was pretty rubbish so we headed off to Lisbon Zoo. The weather was unexpectedly fabulous in the capital and we had a great day. It's a nice zoo but, as is often the case, the food was nothing to shout about although it was nice to see McDonalds are branching out.

I didn't try the crocodile burgers though. I'm joking, of course but the sight of crocs basking beneath the Golden Arches did make me wonder.

Monday saw the weather worsen and, buoyed by finding better weather on our travels the day before, we headed out along the coast to nearby Foz do Arelho. Last time we visited Foz it was the middle of winter and the place was deserted. Turned out the weather was actually even worse in August so, after a (very) brief walk, we promptly got back in the car and headed back to São Martinho, only to find the weather had brightened up a little.

Still not nice enough to head to the beach (although it didn't deter some people), we took a walk along the prom, over the boardwalk that spans the sand dunes from São Martinho to neighbouring Salir do Porto and up the huge sand dune at the mouth of the Rio Alfeizerão.

It started raining on the way back and was still raining later on when we headed out for dinner at Restaurante Carvalho - a place Pooky had chosen after we'd had lunch at a place next door earlier in the holiday.

There we shared another enormous sea bass which, as with the one we'd had on our first night out, was butterflied and grilled, dressed with olive oil and capers and served with the usual boiled potatoes and vegetables. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either. It certainly wasn't as bad as the review I read on Foursquare, which I only read after we'd eaten and I realised that I had a wi-fi signal.

So on to Tuesday. I opened the curtains to see yet another overcast sky. We'd already decided the day before that, if the weather hadn't improved, we'd head back in the direction of Lisbon in search of a bit of sun. Not finding any en route, we continued on to the capital and to the Oceanario de Lisboa.

This is a great aquarium situated on the quayside and houses an impressive central tank containing an array of sharks, tuna, rays and the bizarre sun fish.

We also visited the temporary turtle exhibition which was a little disappointing, if not admirable in it's intentions.

We emerged from the aquarium into bright sunlight so quickly headed back north in the hope that the weather in São Martinho had improved too. It had so we grabbed a few hours on our terrace before heading along the promenade for dinner.

This time we checked out the restaurant we thought we were going to a few days ago when we mistook two restaurants for one - Grelhados No Carvão, beneath the O Farol on the prom. Still wanting to try the cutlass fish, I spotted scabbard fish on the menu and thought it must be the same thing - lost in translation, if you like.

I was wrong and what arrived was actually (and fortunately) a very good piece of grilled swordfish served, as usual, with the ever-present boiled potatoes and veg. The Missus had the grilled sea bream which was on par with others we've had thus far. The service wasn't up to much but the food, wine and view all made up for that.

Well there you have the last few days in a nutshell. The weather's been hit and miss but we've been out and about and tried a few more restaurants of varying quality. Certainly not a culinary wonder but we've made the most of a couple of cloudy days.

The Bloke.

A Grand Day Out

2011-08-03T07:46:00.002+01:00

Saturday, 30th July.

Another overcast day here on the west coast of Portugal. Definitely not a day for lying on the beach but an opportunity to further explore the region. This time our travels took us to the charming town of Óbidos, a mish-mash of Medieval, Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque features (according to the leaflet I picked up at Tourist Information) and one of the 7 Wonders of Portugal. I didn't know there was one Wonder of Portugal, let alone seven. Actually, I don't know what the other six are. Nevertheless, Óbidos is indeed wonderful.

We wandered through the narrow cobbled streets, exploring the numerous tiny craft shops, bars and bodegas selling the local brew, Ginja D'Óbidos - a cherry liqueur produced in the area and sold by the glass, most often (though not always) in a very delicate chocolate cup.

Unfortunately, I was designated driver and didn't get to try it but I did pick up a couple of miniature bottles to try later.

We also learned the story of the ubiquitous Cock of Barcelos that adorns everything from fridge magnets to tea towels all over Portugal.

The story goes that at a banquet given by a rich landowner in Barcelos the silver was stolen and a guest accused of the theft. Tried by the court and found guilty, the man continued to protest his innocence, despite evidence to the contrary. Having a compassionate moment, the magistrate grants the man a last chance to prove his innocence. Spotting a cockerel in a basket nearby, the man says, "if I am innocent, the cock will crow!" Of course, the cock crows and the man is set free. No doubt to the delight of manufacturers and sellers of tourist trinkets country-wide.

After a walk round the castle grounds and the old town wall, thoughts inevitably turned to lunch. With an abundance of similar looking eateries to choose from, we took a seat outside a small restaurant called Burgo down one of the many narrow streets.

Having been thwarted in my desire for bream last week (see the earlier 'Bad-ass Sea Bass' post), I plumped for the grilled dourado (as it's called in these parts). The Missus chose the grilled sea bass.

As we have come to expect in Portugal, the food was simple but delicious. Both the bream and the bass were well seasoned with coarse sea salt, grilled and served whole, along with boiled potatoes and carrots, a side salad and a dressing of olive oil, garlic and parsley.

We walked off our lunch with some further exploration, taking a walk along the perimeter wall and up to the castle, which now houses a 'Pousada' - essentially an inn with a restaurant, which was added in the 1950's and was the first in a historic building in Portugal.

As good as the food was in Óbidos, it wasn't the best of the day. That honour was to be found at a lovely little place that Pooky and I found whilst ambling back from the Intermarche and was literally round the corner from our apartment.

So to the fabulous Cantinho do Amigo; a place so unassuming, we had to actually stick our heads inside to make sure it was really a restaurant.

We got back and reported our find to The Missus. A little later on, as we were heading out for dinner (originally destined for somewhere down at the bay), I suggested that we nip round the corner to Cantinho do Amigo for a drink, to give us a chance to check it out. We ended up staying for dinner and were not disappointed.

Along with the hand-written menu, we were told of about half a dozen 'specials' by the waiter/proprietor. Despite there being both cutlass fish and sardines on the menu, my attention was grabbed by a couple of the specials because, we were told, they were local specialities.

The first was the one I chose - pork with clams. Cubes of pork, seasoned with paprika and a little chilli, and fried in olive oil along with cubed potatoes and finished with a handful of clams and a scattering of parsley.

The second was the choice of both The Missus and Pookster (although our host wisely advised against ordering two of this dish, insisting that one was enough for two) and it was an amazing dish of a whole, jointed chicken, cooked in an earthenware jug with chunks of chorizo, thick slices of pancetta, whole shallots, tomatoes and port. The result, succulent, melting chicken with a smoky flavour and rich, unctuous gravy - an absolute show-stopper and arguably the best dish of the trip so far. Definitely one I'll be trying to recreate when I'm back in Blighty.

Well, whilst the morning's weather didn't look promising, the day turned out to be both a cultural and culinary delight and memorable day for all.

The Bloke.

A Mixed Bag

2011-07-31T09:34:00.002+01:00

Thursday 28th & Friday 29th July.

A double-day update here. Largely because I'm lagging behind but also because Friday was, quite literally, nothing to write home about. Certainly not from a food perspective.

Ok, Thursday first. An absolute scorcher of a day. The wind that has been around for much of the week had all but disappeared, leaving a clear blue sky and soaring temperature. By the way, I don't really know the exact temperature as there's nothing along the promenade showing it, as there often is in this type of place. I do know that the temperature on our car dashboard was showing 22 degrees on Friday, a much cooler day than Thursday.

Anyway, as usual I've gone off on a tangent.

So, hot day meant a long stint on the beach where I bought a bag of doughnuts from a local lady who walks up and down the beach all day long with a little white cart, tooting her horn. She's very popular and seems to do a lot of business. I'll take a photo of her next time I have my phone at the beach.

The doughnuts tided us over until lunch when we went to the inevitable 'English' cafe, Martinho's. It had been recommended to us by Mary, the lady who showed us to our apartment and gave us the keys, although I suspect she might have an interest in the place.

The Missus had a rather good chicken caesar salad (without anchovies at her request), Pookster had cod goujons, which, she assured us, were very tasty and I had one of the finest burgers I've ever had the pleasure to eat; possibly second only to one I had from Five Guys Burger & Fries in Orlando, Florida, earlier in the year. The menu stated at all the burgers were hand-made from traceable ground Scottish beef and I chose the 'stacked chilli burger', topped with cheese, onion rings, lettuce, tomato and a cheeky chilli sauce on a lightly toasted sesame seed bun. Very good and one worthy of a second visit.

After lunch it was back to the beach to make the most of the fantastic weather.

Later, then, and to dinner. Having eaten out for lunch we decided to eat in so it was a trip to the supermarket for me, returning with a salami and tin of tomatoes. An old 'blokeinthekitchen' classic, this one but one we haven't had for some time.

So, a couple of crushed garlic cloves are sautéed with olive oil until sizzling, but not browned then the sliced salami is added to the oil along with a good dose of black pepper and dried chilli (I used the piri-piri seasoning I'd bought earlier in the week).

Once the salami starts to release it's colour into the oil, add a tin of tomatoes to the pan plus about a third of the can of water. Add a pinch of salt, give it a good stir and simmer for about half an hour, until the sauce is thickened. Serve over pasta (I used spaghetti because I had some) and scatter over some grated cheese (again, using up stuff I had in, I used a mature cheddar but I'd usually use Parmesan here) and roughly chopped parsley.

We enjoyed this outside on our terrace with some crusty bread drizzled with garlic-infused olive oil and a few glasses of a crispy local rosé wine.

And so to Friday. Another misty start so I decided to venture down to the local tourist information office to see what else the region had to offer. Unfortunately, most of the information was in Portuguese but there were a few PC's with free Internet access. I took the opportunity to look up the address of Mundus, the restaurant I mentioned we'd failed to find in an earlier post.

By the time I'd emerged from the office, now in possession of the restaurant's address, the sky had cleared so I headed back to the apartment to gather the troops and head to the beach.

Our time at the beach, however, lasted only a few hours as the sky clouded over so we decided to once again attempt to find the elusive Mundus for lunch.

Our TomTom found the address, no problem, so we set off in the direction of Nazaré. Problem is, there have been a lot of new roads built in the area and we spent a lot of time on roads that, according to the satnav, didn't exist. Still, we knew the way to Nazaré and got there ok, however it was the exact location of the restaurant that eluded us previous. But we had the address this time so we'd find it no problem, right? Wrong. No matter which way we tried to approach the area, we were always directed to the same place - a road that, due to the aforementioned roadworks, now ends rather abruptly half way down.

After another fruitless half hour driving in circles, I headed back to Sao Martinho.

We ended up in a beach-front cafe/bar called Fraxinus where, the day after having one of the best burgers I've had just one block away, I endured one of the worst. Least said about it the better. And the service was rubbish too. In fact the only memorable thing about Fraxinus was that I bought a pair of fake Armani sunglasses from a guy wandering round outside after the arms fell off the Duffer ones I'd brought to wear at the beach (to save my Ray-Bans from getting wrecked). This guy wanted €20 but after I'd walked away and he'd chased after me, he went down to €10. I ended up giving him €5 plus another €1 just to get rid of him after he followed me back to our table gesticulating and rabbiting on in Portuguese.

Later in the day, a rather more momentous occasion, I thought, when we watched Raiders of the Lost Ark with Pooky (aged 8) for the first time.

The day was finished off with a supper of pâté, olives, cheeses, meats and crackers which, in it's simplicity, was far more enjoyable than that awful burger from earlier in the day.

We've now given up on finding Mundus. We've promised Pooks that we'll go to Bem Brasil when we get home.

The Bloke.

Wind and Cutlass

2011-07-29T17:21:00.001+01:00

Wednesday, 27th July.

Another beautiful sunny day today but a fairly strong wind cut our visit to the beach short.

Instead, we took the opportunity to explore the promenade, checking out the restaurants on offer for dinner later on.

We chose a restaurant, O Farol (which, if my phrasebook is anything to go by, translates as The Lighthouse) almost by accident, mistaking what was actually two restaurants for one, thinking there was an upper level on the prom and a lower level on the beach. Entering from the prom, we soon discovered our error but the placed looked fine with a nice view over the bay so we stayed anyway.

Soon after being shown to our table, our waiter arrived with an assortment of plates; bread, butter, sardine paté, prawns, something that looked like coleslaw, all of which (apart from the bread) I sent back, asking instead for some olives.

Next, on to the menu. We'd already taken a quick look at the menu outside the restaurant and I'd decided immediately to have the grilled cutlass fish. I'd never had cutlass fish (still haven't, for that matter) but had seen it on a few TV programmes, it being described as being like mackerel.

Our waiter re-appeared and I ordered the octopus salad and the grilled cutlass fish.

Predictably, there was no cutlass fish. The Missus had already ordered the grilled squid with mussels for her and Pooks and, disappointed by there being no cutlass fish, I just opted for the same.

The octopus salad was very nice. Very tender chunks of octopus with a little chopped onion, dressed with olive oil. Simple but delicious.

The Missus had clams to start, simply cooked in olive oil with garlic and coriander as seems to be the norm in these parts. These too were very tasty.

Then came the squid and it was really pretty good. A couple of whole squid char-grilled and a few green-lipped mussels (which I suspect were previously frozen) served with boiled potatoes with a scattering of parsley and wedge of lemon.

I've never had squid cooked that way before and it made a nice change. It's certainly something I'll be trying when we get back home.

We may have ended up at the restaurant by mistake but, unlike the weather, it turned out nice.

Oh, the olives never did turn up.

The Bloke.

A Day of Rest

2011-07-27T19:27:00.001+01:00

Tuesday, 26th July.

This morning I opened the curtains to find a thick fog covering the landscape as far as the eye could see. It was clear it wasn't going to be a beach day.

After a breakfast of croissants, we piled into our rented VW Polo (incidentally the worst car I've ever driven - despite the Carro do Ano sticker in the back window) and headed off to nearby Nazaré for a look around. Again, we have been to Nazaré before, The Missus on more than one occasion, but we were last there in the winter and most things were closed.

I never really liked Nazaré. It reminds me of Blackpool. That said, in the height of summer it sort of has a charm about it that reveals why it's so popular. A bit like Blackpool, I suppose.

What I was really looking forward to, however, was another trip to a great restaurant called Mundus; a Brazilian-style place where there's a never ending supply of barbecued meats of varying types - like a Bem Brasil sort of affair. Problem was, we couldn't remember exactly where it was.

When The Missus first came here with Lesley in the summer of 2007 on a property search, they were introduced to Mundus by an estate agent. When we returned at the tail-end of the same year (that's The Missus, Pooky and I plus Lesley and her other half, Jac) we managed to find it.

This time, though, it was just the three of us and, unable to find a wi-fi signal anywhere and our TomTom not helping, we spent half an hour driving round Nazaré and neighbouring Sitio to no avail.

By the way, I'll apologise at this point for the incorrect use (or omission of) punctuation on the Portuguese words. I can generally get by in Spanish but struggle hopelessly with the Portuguese language.

Anyway, we never did find Mundus (even after reversing the entire length of a car-lined one way street that I'd inadvertently driven up the wrong way) and found little else to inspire us so returned (via some very precarious roads when the satnav took us a little off-piste) to Sao Martinho where we had a rather forgettable lunch of swordfish (me) and calamari (Pooks and The Missus) at a little cafe down one of the side streets off the beach.

At least the weather was improving. The fog and cloud from earlier had cleared, revealing a clear clue sky and blazing sun. Normal service resumed.

After lunch, as the girls headed to the swimming pool and with the market closed for the day, I ambled down to the supermarket for some inspiration for dinner.

It came from the butcher's counter where I bought three chicken legs (thigh and drumstick attached) along with some fresh salad, rice, garlic-infused olive oil and some piri-piri seasoning.

After marinating the chicken legs in the oil and piri-piri for a few hours, I simply roasted them (around 40 minutes at 180) and, after resting them covered with foil whilst I cooked the rice and prepared a salad, served them scattered with a little fresh parsley along with the rice, salad and some crusty bread drizzled with the garlic olive oil.

Oh, and, ironically, a white wine bearing the name Mundus on the label!

We still hope to find Mundus (the restaurant) before we leave. Once I find a wi-fi signal and get an internet connection (when, incidentally, I'll also be posting all of these blog entries) I'll look up the place online and get the postcode. Presuming, of course, that the place still exists. Until then, we're sticking with Sao Martinho. They're not short of a restaurant, that's for sure.

The Bloke.

Bad-ass Sea Bass

2011-07-27T19:26:00.004+01:00

Sunday, 24th July.

Wow.

That's really all you need to say about tonight's dinner at the fabulous Tasca No Cais on Sao Martinho's waterfront.

We're actually no strangers to this place, having been here during a property search in December/January 2007/2008.

This time, however, the trip is purely pleasure (although we do have our eye on an apartment up the road) and it's the food I'm more interested in than the real estate.

I was keen to delve further into the fresh seafood on offer and this place didn't let me down.

First though, it was the morcilla that caught my eye for starters.

It's fair to say that they don't do things by halves here. That was apparent when The Missus' starter of garlic prawns arrived. They were huge, absolutely delicious and there were plenty of them. Shortly after their arrival, my black pudding appeared.

This, again, was huge - probably about a foot long. It was also very tasty. Laced with paprika, pepper and rice, it had a little background heat which really rounded off the flavour.

Massive was the continuing theme as the main event arrived.

I should really go back a little here to when we were ordering.

I had originally intended to go for the sardines. When in Rome, and all that. Or Portugal, as it were. However this place has whatever comes in on the boat on any particular day and they were all out of sardines.

The Missus had already decided on sea bass however we were a little unsure as all the fresh fish was priced by the kilo.

When our waitress advised that there were no sardines, I said I'd have the bream and The Missus said she'd have the bass. This prompted a frown from the waitress who promptly directed us over to the fish counter. Turns out, if you wanted sea bass you got the whole sea bass (or bream or mullet etc) but these weren't the size you'd see in a UK supermarket. These were about as long as my arm. Seriously. The waitress hauled out a bass and weighed it - little short of 2 kilos. Looked like we were all having sea bass after all.

We weren't disappointed. The fish was simply butterflied and barbecued whole and served with new potatoes and shredded runner beans. And delicious it was too; charred, crispy skin and opaque white, succulent flesh. Worth every one of the €66 for the fish alone.

On a side note, while that might sound quite expensive, in reality it's not. Not if you consider the size of the fish. The truth is nothing's very expensive here at all. At least the food and drink aren't. A rare thing these days in any neck of the woods.

Anyway, this photo doesn't really do this magnificent fish justice but at least the chef at Tasca No Cais did.

The Bloke.

Clamtastic

2011-07-27T19:26:00.003+01:00

Monday, 25th July.

After a scorcher of a day at the beach we decided to eat in at our apartment tonight.

Inspired by the clams from our first restaurant, I headed first to the previously mentioned local market just around the corner. Unfortunately it would appear that Monday isn't fish day at this particular market and all that was on offer was an admitted impressive array of fruit and veg. The aroma of the peaches was spectacular in itself.

Not to be put off, I ventured on to the local supermarket down the road, returning with a bulb of garlic, a baby leek, a packet of spaghetti, a chorizo, some fresh parsley, olive oil and a large bag of fresh clams from the fish counter. Oh, and a couple of fresh crusty bread rolls from the bakery.

So to dinner. Ably assisted by The Pookster, I sautéd the finely chopped leek and garlic in plenty of olive oil then added the thinly sliced chorizo, releasing the lovely paprika redness into the oil.

Meanwhile, I cooked the spaghetti in a large pan of salted boiling water. With just a few minutes to go, I added the clams to the chorizo until they opened, releasing their juice into the sauce.

After draining the spaghetti, I tipped the clams, chorizo and sauce over the pasta, stirring it through and added a good handful of chopped parsley.

I served this up with some garlic bread that The Missus had knocked up by slicing and toasting the crusty bread before rubbing with a fat garlic clove and drizzling with olive oil, and some very crisp local white wine.

Whilst I didn't have a chance to stop and take a picture of the finished article, it's definitely one I'll be cooking again and deserves a place in The Bloke archives.

Portugal

2011-07-27T19:24:00.002+01:00

Saturday, 23rd July.

Right, so we've abandoned the rain of England in favour of the sun of Western Portugal. Sao Martinho do Porto to be exact.

Unfortunately it's only a temporary abandonment but still, it gives us a chance to soak up the sun and sample the amazing food on offer - starting with these wonderful clams which were simply opened in lashings of olive oil with a lot of garlic and coriander.

These were preceded by a cold seafood appetiser of squid, prawns and mussels with onion, peppers and the ubiquitous olive oil which we hadn't ordered but just arrived. As did the bread and olives that also arrived unannounced. Nevertheless, it was all tasty enough so I'm not complaining.

My clams were followed by some fried John Dory fillets which were unexpectedly battered and didn't quite live up to the standard set by the starter however The Missus had prawns in garlic to start which, were great, followed by sea bass steaks served (unusually, I thought) with pasta, which she assured me was pretty good.

So, all in all, a good first choice of restaurant. We've had a wander around the cove and there are plenty more restaurants to choose from, mostly with a good selection of fresh seafood.

Speaking of fresh seafood, I went for a run round to the far side of the cove and discovered the beach littered with mussels, cockle, clam and razor clam shells. A short clamber over some rocks and I found an abundance of mussels, crabs and limpets. I'll definitely be heading back over there with a bag before the holiday is out to gather up a supply of mussels to cook as I did last year in Nerja, Spain. This time it should be easier as there'll be no snorkelling involved.

Anyway, I'm writing this in our fantastic apartment with has everything you could wish for - apart from wi-fi. So this'll be parked up until I get down to one of the bars at the beach later.

For now though, it's croissants and yoghurt for breakfast followed by a mooch round the market around the corner.

Laters.

The Bloke

BBQ Ribs

2011-06-05T15:27:00.001+01:00

Barbecue!

2011-06-05T15:26:00.001+01:00

So, finally the great British weather relented long enough (only just) to let me put the new gas BBQ to the test. It didn't disappoint.

First up, home-made burgers. I've covered making my own burgers on this blog before here
http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/home-made-burger-and-chips.html. I still do them the same way except l no longer add an egg. I don't think it's needed.

Another thing I often do is put some grated cheddar in the middle of the burger. This melts wonderfully when grilling and gives a great flavour throughout.

The burgers grilled a treat on the barbie, the control of being able to crank the heat up or down instantly is amazing, not to mention having instant fire at the twist of a knob. The fat dripping down into the burners and smoking more than makes up for the lack of charcoal in my humble opinion.

After the burgers came some chicken legs which I'd simply marinaded in olive oil, crushed garlic, lemon juice, chilli and salt and pepper. I'd also cooked these in the oven at 180 degrees (gas mark 4) for 20 minutes to make sure I wasn't poisoning my friends and family.

Next up, a sheet of bacon ribs I'd bought earlier in the day from the wonderful Scotch Beef Shop in Woolton, Liverpool (where I'd also bought the minced beef for the aforementioned burgers as well as some sausages, which I'll come on to later). These ribs deserved a decent marinade so I had a root through my store cupboard and came up with the following:

BBQ Marinade Recipe

4 tablespoons of tomato ketchup
4 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of honey
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of paprika
Ground black pepper

Mix the lot together, smother your meat of choice and leave to marinade for a couple of hours.

The ribs were followed up by the obligatory bangers. No ordinary bangers here though, oh no. These are hand-made affairs from the butchers mentioned above, pork and pepper and Slimming World approved too so not too much damage on the waistline. The have a whole range of interesting sausages and the shop is worth a visit for these alone.

To counter the meat-fest there was a lot of nice fresh salad doing the rounds, as well as some halloumi griddled on the barbie's side burner all washed down with a jug of Pimms and some Stella Artois Cidre.

Well, now our 2 days of summer appear to be over and the rain has returned so the cover's back on the barbecue, probably until this time next year.

Salud!

View To A Grill

2011-05-06T19:21:00.001+01:00

After 2 hours of crawling around, lifting and swearing a lot, the lean, mean grilling machine is ready to do battle.

Let grilling commence!

Baked Trout and Sunny Days

2011-05-04T18:45:00.003+01:00

Ah, sunshine! It's usually a rare commodity in these here parts but April and, so far, May have been nothing but glorious.

It's weather like this that makes me think of holiday food and that, more often than not, means fish.

This dish in particular reminds me of sunset at a restaurant on the beach in Mallorca a few years back. At the time the fish in question was actually Gilt-head Bream but, being at the mercy of Tesco fish counter (other supermarkets are available) I chose the fish that looked freshest and that was some nice Rainbow Trout.

Incidentally, best way to tell if the fish is fresh is to look at the eyes. They should be clear and bright. If they look cloudy then avoid at all costs.

Right, back to the trout. I keep it nice and simple. Take a roasting dish or baking tray large enough to hold your fish and scatter the bottom with a finely sliced onion and a bunch of chives.

Next, cut slashes in the sides of the fish on both sides and season the fish with salt and pepper, both inside and out.

Stuff the insides of the fish with a few slices of lemon, thin slivers of garlic and a bunch of fresh parsley.

Lay the fish on the onions and drizzle the whole thing with a good olive oil.

Roast (or bake, if you prefer - no difference as far as I can determine) for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees (gas mark 4 - I think).

Serve the fish whole with new potatoes and crisp blanched veg such as sugarsnap peas, green beans and asparagus. Oh, and how about a cheeky little dry white? Ah, go on then, I'll have a Gavi.

We've also had a raft of bank holidays, with an extra one courtesy of Prince William and his lovely bride, Catherine. We watched the wedding with a drop of fizz round at our good friends, Sles & Jac followed by a barbecue and a certain amount of cider. Cheers Will and Kate!

We finished off the bank hols with a trip up to the Camelot theme park with The Missus, Pooky and I plus Pooky's sidekick, Ubiquitous Katie.

When you've been to Orlando, those sort of places kinda pale by comparison. Still, a good day (along with picnic) was had by all.

Oh, speaking of barbecues, and Orlando for that matter, after being treated to gas barbies in Oz a few years back, Sles & Jac took the plunge and splashed out on a huge 4 burner contraption. We resisted but were tempted again by the one we had in Florida at Christmas.

Last weekend's wedding barbie finally persuaded us that we needed to abandon the charcoal and go gas so we've ordered a four burner piece of our own. It's getting delivered on Friday so putting that together will no doubt be fun. I'll keep you posted....

The Bloke

On me shed, son.

2011-04-24T13:49:00.001+01:00

The aforementioned shed.

Myself and three of the allotment old guard moved this from plot 11 to my plot, 14a, on a tiny trolley. The whole scene was reminiscent of Last of the Summer Wine.

Anyway, there you have it. Home sweet home.

Happy Experiment!

2011-04-23T20:50:00.001+01:00

Ok, it's been a while and I apologise. What with the Swimathon a few weeks back and work, family and footy commitments, oh, and the allotment (which I'll come to later) it's been all go at Bloke HQ.

Anyways, first to the experiment. The Missus is out at the theatre today and The Pookster is in bed so, as usual, that means it's pasta for one.

Now, I've talked about my pasta fast food before here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/bloke-pasta-with-chorizo.html and this is just a variation on the theme but it's also using some leftovers and the result is, if I say so myself, pretty great.

Recently, I've mentioned something called pringá; a Spanish slow-cooked pork that we discovered in Seville (details here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/03/foodie-weekend.html). Well, I'd kind of made rather a lot so, as I always do if I have leftovers of anything freezable, it was bagged, labelled and frozen.

Also leftover from yesterday was some mixed olives in oil with herbs and chilli.

This all got me thinking that there was a pretty special marriage (never mind William & Kate) waiting to happen right there.

So, after defrosting a batch of the pringá, I finely sliced a fat clove of garlic and a spring onion and softened them, along with some dried chilli, in the oil from the olives. I kept the olives to one side where I roughly chopped them, along with some fresh parsley, to be added later.

While all this is going on, I cooked some pasta for about 12 minutes in well-salted boiling water.

With a few minutes to go on the pasta, I added the pork, olives and parsley to the onions, garlic and chilli to warm through.

I then drained the pasta, tipped it back into the pan and stirred through the meaty, spicy sauce, added a little black pepper and served up with a very nice South African Chenin Blanc.

Oh, quick note about the allotment. I now have broad beans, peas, radishes, sprouts, yellow courgettes, squash and carrots planted out and fending for themselves. I've also managed to blag a shed from an empty plot which I'll be moving onto my plot tomorrow.

I've currently got onions, leeks, peppers, chillis, green beans, tomatoes and courgettes growing in propagators in my conservatory which will be going out in the coming weeks. Oh, I've also got a couple of varieties of spuds growing in a planter (which I keep topping up with compost as the plants grow) in my garden. Hopefully it won't be long until I've got a bumper crop of fresh produce to cook and eat over the summer.

Right, back to my Chenin Blanc.

Enjoy!

Footy and Food

2011-03-29T19:51:00.000+01:00

Ok, The Missus is away on business, Pookster's in bed and there's footy on the telly. It can only mean one thing - Bloke Pasta and beer.

Tonight it's a variation on a theme previously written about here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/10/bloke-pasta-with-chorizo.html - this time with mushrooms, chilli, garlic, olive oil, some leftover manchego and Serrano ham and a handful of chopped parsley. All ready before kick-off.

I'm keeping an eye out for the Blue Boys tonight with Bainesy and Jags wearing the three lions. COYB!

Laters.

Lovely Leftovers

2011-03-29T06:32:00.000+01:00

I'm a big fan of using up leftover food and a Sunday roast is usually a good source of leftover goodies.

For me, yesterday was no exception and my roast beef yielded not only a batch of broccoli stalks which are great for broccoli soup (diced and frozen until needed) but a nice chunk of beef just crying out to be turned into a cheeky curry.

This recipe works just as well with lamb and if I'm going to take the time (4 hours or so) to cook lamb shanks, I always do one more than I need, just for a Monday night curry.

Anyway, back to the recipe.

Soften one thinly sliced onion in a little vegetable oil along with a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, four cardamoms and cloves, salt, pepper and a teaspoon each of cumin, ground coriander, turmeric and crushed chilli flakes.

While that's all softening, cut the beef into bite-sized chunks.

Add the beef to the pan and give it a good stir to coat the meat with the spice mixture. Leave that to cook for a few minutes while you get a pint of hot chicken stock ready (if I don't have any fresh or frozen stock I use Knorr Touch of Taste concentrate).

Add the stock to the pan along with a carton of passata and stir well.

Bring it to the boil then reduce the heat, cover and simmer for at least 2 hours.

Serve it up with some pilau rice. I thought I'd previously covered pilau rice on another post but a quick trawl through the Bloke archives confirms otherwise.

Ok, bring a large pan of water to the boil and add a good pinch of salt, pepper, saffron, turmeric and onion seeds (these are the little black seeds you see in naan bread and they're available from supermarkets).

When it's boiling, add a mug of rice (I always use basmati but that's just my preference), stir well and boil for around 10 minutes.

I tend to regard cooking times on rice packets with a degree of scepticism. I've seen some instructions say 15 minutes or more. If you want wallpaper paste then go right ahead. But I digress. Try a bit of rice after about 9 minutes and make your own mind up.

When the rice is cooked, drain into a colander, put the colander back over the pan (not over heat) and cover it with foil. Leave it for around 10 minutes. This will leave the rice nice and fluffy.

Serve the curry and rice with a few bottles of ice-cold beer or, as I did last night, a big, meaty Cabernet Sauvignon.

Enjoy!

Sent from my iPhone

2011-03-27T16:27:00.001+01:00

Foodie Weekend!

2011-03-27T16:09:00.000+01:00

Well, it's been a food filled weekend; buying, cooking, eating, even growing!

With friends Les & Jac round for tapas yesterday - a thank you for looking after Pooky whilst the Missus and I went off to Seville to celebrate my 40th birthday, shopping was a little more interesting than the usual trip to Tesco (other supermarkets are available).

For a touch of the authentic, I popped into Liverpool One to visit the excellent Lunya Deli. I left with two types of olives, one stuffed with orange and chilli, the other marinated in olive oil, paprika, chilli and oregano - both wonderful. I also bought some fantastic manchego cheese, jamón Iberico, morcilla with rice (which I pan-fried and served with a little rocket and topped with caramelised red onion) and some of those marvellous little breadstick like nibbles which were served with every beer in Seville.

I also served up some chicken wings seasoned with a little paprika, patas bravas with a great spicy tomato salsa, roasted asparagus wrapped in Serrano ham, roasted almonds and another wonder discovered in Seville - pringá.

Pringá, or certainly the version we had, is slow-cooked pork (I used shoulder steaks) cooked for hours with chicken stock, garlic and onions until the meat is falling apart and served with crusty bread. From what I've read, I think it's traditionally a way to use up leftover pork and is sometimes also made with morcilla or chorizo.

Needless to say, that was all washed down with a considerable amount of Spanish beer and a couple of nice bottles of white Rioja.

Which brings me to today and the growing part.

Today I finally got my seedlings in the ground. For a couple of months now I've been growing a batch of plants in propagators, waiting for them to get big enough to fend for themselves.

So, after getting rid of the weeds and giving one of the beds a good dig over, I've planted my broad beans, radishes, peas and Brussels sprouts. Hopefully the frosts have passed now and they'll be ok out there.

I still have some onions, grown from seed, and butternut squash indoors. They're not yet big enough to go out but I'm sure they will be in a few weeks.

Now I've got empty propagators now though and that'll never do. Courgettes, leeks and tomatoes are next to go in and I'll be sowing them later on today.

Anyway, today's roast (topside of beef with all the trimmings) won't cook itself so I'm off to sort that out.

I'll leave you with a photo (although I'm updating this via email so I don't know if it will work). I'll keep you updated on the progress of my crops and hopefully I'll soon have a bountiful haul of fresh produce to cook, eat and write about.

TTFN

The Bloke

Test post

2011-02-08T14:09:00.001Z

Will this really work?!

Quick Prawn Paella

2010-12-23T18:20:00.003Z

Ok, firstly, apologies. It's been far too long since I wrote anything new here. I've been Tweeting (@blokeinkitchen) but that doesn't excuse the tardiness.

Secondly, I know this isn't very appropriate for the season (Christmas dinner recipe will be appearing shortly, honest) but I'm cooking this now and wanted to share it with you.

Paella, for me, is a bit of a pain. Getting those grains of arborio rice to just the right consistency ain't easy. If you want it done properly, go to Ayo's on Nerja beach in Spain. In the meantime, here goes...

What you'll need:

300g raw prawns (with shells)
2 good glugs of olive oil
1 onion
1 carrot
1 teaspoon of tomato puree
500ml chicken stock
6oz basmati rice
2 cloves of garlic
3 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 piece of cinamon
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
2 large tomatoes
1/2 a red pepper
1 handful of defrosted frozen peas
1 chunk of chorizo
A handful of fresh parsley

Here's how you do it:

First, you need to make a stock. Take the shells off the prawns and set them aside, you need 'em. De-vein the prawns by running a very sharp knife down the length of the back of the prawn where you'll see a black vein. Pluck this out and discard.

Finely chop the onion and the carrot. Gently heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan. Add the carrot and half the onion and fry gently until you get a bit of colour in the onion and the carrot is softened a little.

Chuck in the prawn shells and continue frying until they change colour. Add the tomato puree and cook out for a couple of minutes, giving everything a good old stir then add the chicken stock.

Now, this is an important bit, so pay attention.

You'll have noticed that I've been specific with the amounts of stock and rice. Normally I wouldn't be so bothered. Amounts of 'some' are usually my method, but this is different. This actually matters because this is how you get the rice 'just-so'.

Bring the stock to the boil then turn the heat down and simmer for 15 minutes. This should reduce the stock to around 300ml. Drain the stock through a seive into a measuring jug to check. If it is less than 300ml, top it up with a bit of boiling water. If there's a little more, put it back in the pan and reduce it a little more, then strain into the measuring jug again. Discard the stuff from the seive.

Add another glug of olive oil into the empty frying pan. Add the rest of the onion, the chorizo (skin removed and roughly chopped - the chorizo, not the skin) the finely chopped garlic, the cardamoms, cloves, cinamon and turmeric and fry gently until the onion has softened.

Add the rice. Give it a good old stir around to get it coated in the seasoned oil.

Important bit No. 2.

Add the stock, add a bit of salt and pepper, bring it to the boil, turn the heat down as low as it will go, put a lid on the pan and leave it for 10 minutes. Don't take the lid of and most definitely don't stir it. As long as you've stuck to the volumes of stock and rice above, it will be perfect.

While the rice is cooking, peel, de-seed and chop the tomatoes, and do the same to the red pepper. Do I need to tell you how to do this? Hmm, possibly, but I haven't got time right now. I do intend to add a section full of useful tips like this once I get the blokeinthekitchen website back up and running but with currently work commitments this is a bit tricky, but I digress. If anyone wants to know how to do this, Tweet me and I'll either reply on Twitter or stick a separate post here, whichever I get time for.

When the 10 minutes is up, take the lid off the rice, add the prawns, the peas and the chopped tomato, pepper and parsley. Give it a gentle stir then put the lid back on. Leave it for 5 minutes or so, until the prawns have turned pink all over and are cooked through.

Actually, it's at this point you could add anything you want - squid, mussels, cooked chicken - whatever takes your fancy. Just make sure that everything is cooked through and warm before you serve it up with some ice cold, crisp, dry white wine.

I'll hopefully be able to add photo's to this very soon. In the meantime, enjoy!

The Bloke

Salmon Teryaki With Stir-fried Vegetables and Noodles

2010-06-28T19:05:00.003+01:00

OK, it's been a while. Six months actually. Sorry.

Anyway, here's a new recipe that I put together recently. It went down well with The Missus so here goes.

For the teryaki marinade, put 4 tablespoons of soy sauce into a bowl with 1 tablespoon of chinkiang rice vinegar, a crushed clove of garlic and a finely chopped red chilli.

Place two salmon fillets into the marinade and leave them for about an hour, turning them over every now and then.

When you're ready to cook, grill the salmon fillets for about 8 minutes, turning occasionally until cooked through. Keep the marinade.

Now prepare your vegetables. Take a handful each of tender stem broccoli, baby corn, sugar snap peas and spring onions and slice them in half lengthways.

When the salmon is about halfway cooked, heat a little vegetable oil in a hot wok and stir fry the veg for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and chuck in a couple of sheets of noodles. I use Sharwood's Medium Egg Noodles. They take 4 minutes to cook and I tease them apart in the pan with a pair of tongs to make sure they separate.

When they've got 2 minutes to go, tip the marinade into the wok and bring to the boil then simmer until the noodles are cooked. Drain the noodles, add them to the wok and toss them all around.

Divide the noodles and vegetables into 2 bowls, place a salmon fillet on top and pour over any sauce that's left.

Enjoy!

Tiramisu

2009-12-15T20:28:00.003Z

Ok, here's The Missus' favourite dessert - tiramisu. I could bore you by telling you that tiramisu is apparently Italian for 'pick-me-up', but I won't. I'll just get on with the recipe.

Usually I don't bother with ingredients but with desserts I think it's important, so here goes.

2 free range organic egg yolks
2 tablespoons of caster sugar
a few drops of vanilla essence
250g/8oz of marcarpone cheese
175ml/6floz of strong black coffee
2 tablespoons of Marsala wine
1 tablespoon of brandy
15g/5oz of sponge fingers
1 tablespoon of cocoa powder

Mix the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl until they are creamy. Mix in the drops of vanilla essence then gently fold in the marscarpone until you have a smooth creamy mixture.

Mix the coffee and Marsala together in a large bowl. Quickly dunk the sponge fingers into the liquid. Don't soak them or they will become soggy and fall apart.

Place a layer of sponge fingers in the bottom of a large glass bowl and cover them with a layer of the marscarpone mixture.

Continue layering in this way, finishing with a layer of marscarpone. Sieve over a dusting of cocoa powder.

Put the whole thing into the fridge and chill for at least 3 hours.

The Bloke

Poached Salmon With Pasta and Wholegrain Mustard Sauce

2009-10-24T14:51:00.005+01:00

Right, I've been promising to write this recipe up for ages now and, as usual, I've just been too lazy.

This recipe was a result of a lot of experimenting after buying a rather large whole salmon. I found that some of the steaks I'd cut were quite bony so decided to poach a couple of them, break the fish into chunks (picking out the bones while I was as it) and adding to pasta.

The problem was the sauce. It took about four attempts to get to this stage (it was a very big salmon) and I've done this twice now with success, finally getting the all-important 'thumbs up' from The Missus.

Well, I've rambled enough, here's the recipe, as always this serves two.

First, poach the salmon. I've used two steaks but you could use a couple of fillets. Put the fish in a frying pan deep enough to allow you to cover the fish with water. Chuck in a couple of bay leaves and four or five whole peppercorns. Cover the fish with boiling water and simmer for about 8 minutes. You can, of course, bypass this step and buy ready-poached salmon. M&S do nice poached salmon fillets.

Remove the fish from the pan and drain on some kitchen paper, allowing it to cool while you get on with the sauce.

Finely chop 1 shallot and a couple of cloves of garlic. Add this to a saucepan with a couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil. Soften over a low(ish) heat, taking care not to brown, then add about a wine glass of dry white wine.

Point of interest here. Don't be fooled into thinking you can use rubbish wine for cooking. Rule of thumb, if you wouldn't drink it, don't cook with it.

Bring the wine to the boil and simmer until the smell of alcohol has gone then add about a tablespoon of wholegrain mustard. Stir this in then simmer for about 5 minutes or so.

While that's simmering away, go back to the fish. Remove any skin and break the fish into bite-sized chunks, making sure you pick out all the bones.

Now, cook some pasta in loads of boiling, salted water for about 10 minutes (check with the packet).

While that's cooking, finish the sauce off. Add a couple of heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche, season with salt and pepper, add the salmon, stir through and warm through over a low heat.

When it's cooked, drain the pasta and divide into two bowls. Spoon the salmon sauce over the pasta, giving it a gentle stir through, then scatter over a handful of roughly chopped parsley.

Goes nice with a glass of ice cold Gavi.

Cheers

The Bloke

Pan-Fried Sea Bream With Pineapple Salsa

2009-10-04T07:56:00.003+01:00

This is more to tell you about the salsa than the bream as I've already written about this before - here http://blokeinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/06/pan-fried-sea-bream.html. I wanted to do something a little different to go with it and remembered that I had a pineapple and plenty of chillies so I'd give it a bit of a Caribbean treatment.

I filleted, boned and skinned the fish myself but as I mentioned in the earlier recipe, you can get a fishmonger to do this for you. When I finally get my act together, I intend to include how to do this in my video content. In the meantime, see the above post for how to cook the fish.

To go with the fish, I did some cheat's sauteed potatoes. Take a few handfuls of new potatoes and boil them for about 15 minutes in salted water. Heat some vegetable oil in a decent sized roasting dish at 240 degrees (gas mark 9). Drain the potatoes and run them under cold water to cool them enough to handle. Cut the each potato into 8 pieces and season well with black pepper and paprika. When the oven is hot enough, take the roasting dish out and add the spuds. Give them a good toss and put the dish back in the oven for about 20 minutes, giving them a toss after about 10 minutes.

So to the salsa. Very simple really. Finely chop about a quarter of a red onion, a quarter of a red pepper, a whole chilli (depending on how hot you like it, seeds in or out - up to you) a couple of cloves of garlic and about a centimetre of ginger and a couple of slices of pineapple.

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and fry the salsa until the edges of the pineapple are slightly singed, remove from the heat and add a handful of roughly chopped parsley. Give it all a good stir and you're done.

Serve a couple of fillets of the pan-fried bream with the potatoes, the salsa and some fine green beans.

The Bloke

Bloke Pasta With Chorizo

2009-10-01T21:26:00.003+01:00

This is something that I love cooking when The Missus is out, as she is tonight. It only takes about 12 minutes to cook which means that you can knock it up at half-time and tuck in while you're watching the second half.

Right, first get your pasta on. Tonight I used some chilli penne as I had a craving for lots of chilli but I've done this with all sorts of different pasta, whatever I have in the house. Cook the pasta in accordance with the instructions on the packet, normally about 12 minutes.

While that's going on, turn your attention to the sauce, such as it is.

In a frying pan, add a good few glugs of good extra virgin olive oil. Add a couple of cloves of finely sliced garlic, as much chilli as you fancy, and a couple of inches of sliced chorizo. Warm all this through, don't fry it. This will release the paprika from the chorizo into the olive oil and soften the garlic.

When the pasta is cooked, drain it and add it to the frying pan. Chuck in a load of roughly chopped parsley and give it all a good mix about.

Tip the lot into a bowl and grate over a jolly good dose of parmesan. Grab a beer, sit down in front of the telly and watch the rest of the footy while you've got the house to yourself!

The Bloke

Mackerel With Ciabatta and Creme Fraiche

2009-09-19T16:18:00.002+01:00

A nice simple lunch that we've just had. Fast food at it's best. Very cheap, too!

Get a couple of mackerel fillets per person. You can either buy the mackerel whole and fillet them yourself, get the fishmonger to do it (they'll normally do it at the fish counter in supermarkets) or just buy fillets. Either way, they'll only cost you a couple of quid.

You may still need to pin-bone the fish. There are two ways to do this. You can pick your way down the middle of the fillet with a pair of tweezers, plucking out all the bones but this takes a while and is a bit messy. The way I've just done it is to run a very sharp knife down either side of the row of bones at a slight angle, being careful not to cut through the skin, then pull the whole 'V' of bones right out.

Put the fish to one side while you make the sauce.

In bowl mix a couple of large tablespoons of creme fraiche with a finely chopped clove of garlic, a bunch of chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and pepper and a splash of white wine vinegar. Mix it all together and set aside.

Now for the ciabatta. Cut the bread in half horizontally and place the slices cut-side up under a hot grill for a minute or so. Keep an eye on them and take them out when they're golden brown. Rub the toasted surface all over with a clove of garlic and drizzle with some olive oil.

Keep the bread warm somewhere while you cook the fish.

Simply drizzle the mackerel on each side with a little olive oil, season with a touch of salt and pepper and cook under a hot grill for about a minute on each side.

Put a couple of mackerel fillets on a slice of ciabatta, drizzle with the creme fraiche and serve with a nice bit of green salad and a cold, crisp sauvignon blanc.

The Bloke

Poached Smoked Haddock With Parsley Sauce

2009-08-30T08:44:00.003+01:00

This was another make-it-up-as-you-go-along affair after some nice smoked haddock took my fancy the other day.

Find yourself a frying pan just big enough to house your fish fillets. Put the fish in the pan along with a couple of peppercorns and a bay leaf. Add some milk to the pan, just enough to cover the fish and bring it to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 8 minutes.

When the fish is cooked, remove it from the pan, reserving the milk, and keep it warm in a very low oven while you make the sauce.

Make a beurre manie by mixing a tablespoon of flour with a knob of very soft butter. Add the butter to the milk and bring it back up to the boil, stirring constantly. When the sauce starts to thicken, add a good handful of chopped parsley and stir through.

Serve the fish with the parsley sauce, creamy, herby mashed potatoes and griddled asparagus.

I had intended to serve this with a poached egg instead of the sauce but I completely forgot! Nevermind, the sauce was fab anyway.

The Bloke

Courgette Chutney

2009-08-24T09:53:00.002+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted anything new; too long, I know. I've been trying to think of a reason other than I'm just plain lazy but, in all honesty, I'm too lazy to think of anything.

Right, courgettes. If you've been following me on Twitter (@blokeinkitchen) then you'll know I've been growing, amongst other things, courgettes this summer. It's turned out really well and I've had a fine crop but sometimes they've been coming through so quick that it's difficult to know what to do with them all.

I've made soup and had courgettes cooked in every way I can think of but following my recent success with gooseberry chutney, using gooseberries from my mum's garden, I've got the chutney bug and decided to put some of the larger courgettes to good use.

So, here goes, in approximate quantities:

140g raisins
2 Granny Smith apples (peeled and diced)
4 Cloves of garlic (peeled, smashed and roughly chopped)
1 Onion (peeled and diced)
1lb fat courgettes (peeled, de-seeded and diced)
1 inch of ginger (peeled and finely chopped)
300ml white wine vinegar
100g brown sugar
1 red chilli (finely chopped - seeds in/out - up to you)
Tablespoon of green peppercorns.

Because I'm lazy, I just put everything listed above into a large stainless steel pan, brought to the boil and simmered for about an hour, stirring frequently to make sure it doesn't stick. When the whole thing has reduced to a jammy consistency, pour into a sterlised glass jar, seal tight, allow to cool then put it in the fridge.

The texture of this chutney is more chunky than the gooseberry one and the chilli, ginger, garlic and peppercorns give it a good kick. I think it would be a good curry accompaniment, alongside the usual lime pickle and mango chutney but also with sausages, strong cheese and cold meats.

Hope you like it.

The Bloke

Pancetta-Wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

2009-07-27T21:07:00.002+01:00

Here's one that actually came about from buying a couple of chicken breasts on my way home then seeing what we had in the fridge and the garden and taking it from there.

First, the stuffing. Mushroom, garlic and rosemary. Roughly chop a few handfuls of mushrooms, a couple of cloves of garlic and the picked leaves from a sprig of rosemary and soften them in a pan with a couple of glugs of olive oil with a pinch of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper.

Now on to the chicken. Take the skin off the chicken, if it has skin, then you'll need to cut a pocket into the underside of the breast. To do this, turn the breast over so it's 'smooth' side down and you'll see a thick bit sloping down to a thinner bit. Cut into the thick bit at the same height as the thin bit, making sure you don't cut all the way through. This should make a good hole for you to put your mushroom filling into.

When the mushroom mixture has cooled, spoon it into the aforementioned pockets in your chicken breasts then wrap the breasts in slices of smoked pancetta (you can get this in supermarkets - definitely Tesco and Sainsbury's). The best way to do this is to lay four or five slices of pancetta on a baking tray, carefully lay the chicken breast onto the pancetta, smooth side down, wrap the ends of the pancetta over the back of the chicken breast then turn it over and you're done.

Cook the chicken in an oven at 180 degrees (gas mark 4) for, depending on the size of your breasts (oo-er, madam) around 15 - 20 minutes.

Leave to rest for a couple of minutes while you plate up the veg of your choosing - I did herby mash and garden peas but The Missus has just suggested asparagus. Lovely!

The Bloke

Steak in Green Peppercorn Sauce

2009-07-17T22:14:00.007+01:00

A fave of The Missus, this one. It's pretty straightforward, so here we go.

Put an oven-proof dish in a pre-heated oven at about 100 degrees (not sure what gas mark, just the lowest it will go).

Take 2 steaks of your choosing, rub them with some good olive oil then season with sea salt and plenty of freshly cracked black pepper. The last time I did this (last weekend) I used a couple of rib-eye steaks but you can use fillets or sirloins if you like. Leave them out to come to room temperature while you get on with everything else.

In a jug, mix together 200ml of beef stock (on the subject of stock, I do make my own chicken and veg stock, when I can be bothered but I use the Knorr concentrates when I can't) with a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, a couple of good slugs of red wine and a few splashes of Worcester Sauce. Whisk it all together then set aside.

In a large, flame-proof frying pan (a black-iron pan is perfect, if you've got one), melt a knob of butter in a good couple of glugs of olive oil over a high heat. When it's all hot and bubbling, chuck in your steaks and, depending on how you like them, fry them for about a minute and a half on each side. Transfer them to the dish in the oven while you finish off the sauce.

Take the pan off the heat and add a couple of slugs of brandy then set fire to it. This will burn off the alcohol quickly and looks pretty impressive too.

Add the pan back to the heat and when the flames have gone out, add the stock mixture and whisk over a high heat until it's reduced by about a quarter. Add about 100ml or so of double cream and 2 tablespoons of green peppercorns (you can get these in brine in supermarkets). Mix the whole lot together until it's thickened slightly and, although I hate this phrase, I guess it's true, coats the back of a spoon. You know what I mean!

Serve the steaks with new potatoes and griddled asparagus with the sauce poured over and a glass of a good South African Pinotage.

Triffic!

The Bloke

'Traffic-light' Curry With Spicy Potatoes

2009-07-11T17:44:00.006+01:00

Ok, you get red curries, green curries - my sister, Rabs, even had yellow curry the other day when we ate at Host in Liverpool before we went to see Kasabian. I call this my traffic-light curry because it's red, yellow and green. You'll get the picture.

Onions first, two of them finely sliced, and about 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped. Sweat them off in a splash of vegetable oil, a good pinch of sea salt, plenty of freshly ground black pepper, about a tablespoon of freshly ground coriander seeds (bashed up in a pestle and mortar) and about a teaspoon of turmeric - (the yellow/amber).

When the onions have softened, add your chicken. I use chicken legs, boned and cut into chunks. Increase the heat a little and seal the chicken. Next, add some chopped red chilli - as much as you fancy, this obviously gives you the red part, followed by a pint of hot chicken stock. Bring it to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer to reduce the stock while you get on with your potatoes.

Peel however many potatoes you want and boil them for 10 minutes in salted water. Heat some vegetable oil in a decent sized roasting dish at 240 degrees (gas mark 9). Drain the potatoes and run them under cold water to cool them enough to handle. Cut the potatoes into chunks, about an inch square and sprinkle over about a teaspoon or so each of ground cumin and paprika. When the oven is hot enough, take the roasting dish out and add the spuds. Give them a good toss and put the dish back in the oven for about 15 minutes.

When the stock in the chicken has reduced down to about a tablespoon, add in a good couple of tablespoons of natural yoghurt and the final colour - a handful of chopped coriander. Actually, I use parsley because The Missus doesn't like coriander. Use whatever you want.

Warm the yoghurt through then serve with the crisp spicy potatoes and a nice crisp white wine. We had a Gavi with this last time.

The Bloke

Butterfly Chicken With Red Pepper Tagliatelle

2009-07-05T15:12:00.003+01:00

I actually thought that I'd already written this recipe up on the blog but turns out I haven't. Until now, that is.

I can't really remember where this recipe came from but it's one that I've been playing around with and changing for a couple of years. It's really simple but looks impressive and tastes great.

First, butterfly your chicken breasts. This is actually easier than it sounds. Remove the skin from the chicken and put it smooth-side down on a plastic chopping board. There is a thicker part and a thinner part on the back of the breast. Using a very sharp knife, carefully slice into the thicker part at the height of the thinner part, taking care not to cut all the way through. When you're about half the way through, start opening out the breast, making small cuts as you go until you can lay the breast flat. Next, take a meat mallet and carefully beat the chicken to get an even thickness.

Now to the marinade. For this put a couple of good slugs of olive oil into a large dish along with two finely chopped garlic cloves, about a teaspoon or so of finely chopped rosemary, a good pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and the juice of half a lemon. Put the chicken into the bowl, making sure each breast is covered in the marinade on each side. Put the bowl into the fridge and get on with your pasta sauce.

Take a sweet red pepper, the long pointy type, and put it under a hot grill until the skin is blackened all over. Leave it to cool then peel the skin off, take the top off, slice it open and remove the seeds. Cut the pepper into thin ribbons, like the tagliatelle you're going to add later.

Put the pepper into a large bowl and add a handful of quartered baby plum tomatoes, a drizzle of olive oil, a finely chopped clove of garlic and some salt and pepper. You'll be adding some shredded basil leaves and a touch of lemon juice later.

Take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come back up to room temperature.

Now you're ready to cook. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and get a griddle pan on over a high heat.

Add a couple of handfuls of tagliatelle to the boiling water and gently coax the balls of pasta apart if you're using the dried stuff. Give them 3 minutes then get on to the chicken (remember, if you're using fresh pasta then this will only take a couple of minutes to cook so use your loaf and put the pasta on when the chicken only has a couple of minutes left).

The griddle pan should be hot now. Take each chicken breast from the marinade and lay them in the pan and cook for about 3 minutes on each side. When the final 3 minutes is up, take the pan off the heat and leave the chicken to rest while you sort your pasta out.

Drain your pasta and add it to the bowl of peppers and tomatoes. Squeeze over a splash of lemon juice and chuck in a handful of shredded basil leaves. Give the whole lot a good mix together and serve alongside the chicken and a glass of ice-cold Sauvignon Blanc.

Enjoy!

The Bloke

Roast Trout With Dill and Tomatoes

2009-06-26T22:27:00.005+01:00

As the weather's been getting warmer, I've been looking for nice summery type dishes - a bit of a Med feel.

My thoughts turned to some of the meals we had in Mallorca a couple of years ago, most notably fish, and while I was out shopping a couple of trout caught my eye and this dish was born.

Incidentally, when you're choosing your fish, look at the eyes. They should be clear and bright. If they're cloudy or white, give the fish a wide berth.

So, take 1 whole trout per person and give them a good wash, inside and out. Dry them with some kitchen paper and cut a couple of slashes in the flesh on each side.

Next, peel a couple of cloves of garlic and crush them in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of sea salt, a good few glugs of olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Put your oven on to 240 degrees (gas mark 9).

Cut a couple of slashes diagonally along each side of the fish and rub the garlic marinade all over the fish, inside and out.

Stuff the cavities of each fish with a handful of fresh dill and add a couple of slices of lemon.

Put the fish into a good sized roasting dish and chuck in a handful of halved cherry tomatoes.

Next, put the roasting dish into the hot oven for about 10-12 minutes and pour yourself a glass of Gavi.

Check the fish after 10 minutes. The skin should have crisped, the eyes gone white and if you poke the fattest part of the fish, just behind the head, with the tip of a sharp knife, the flesh should come away easily. Give another 2 minutes or so if you don't think it's cooked but don't over-do it or the fish will go dry.

I served this up with some herby new potatoes and salad. Lovely.

The Bloke

Simple Lamb Rump Steaks

2009-06-26T09:21:00.005+01:00

Very simple but really tasty. Here goes.

Put a couple of lamb rump steaks per person into a large dish. Scatter over some finely chopped rosemary and garlic, squeeze over the juice of half a lemon and a couple of glugs of olive oil then season with sea salt and ground black pepper. Leave it to marinade for about an hour.

When you're ready, get a griddle pan ridiculously hot - smoking hot, then cook the steaks for 2 minutes on each side. Transfer the meat to a chopping board to rest for a minute then slice each in half. They should be just pink in the middle and very juicy.

Serve with a green salad and minted new potatoes and a nice glass of Shiraz.

The Bloke

Couscous With Lamb, Chilli, Cumin and Dates

2009-06-23T04:39:00.000+01:00

I love couscous! Couscous is little grains of dried semolina coated in flour. You can create so many different flavours by adding whatever takes your fancy. Today I'm going with a Moroccan theme but my couscous paella is also a favourite.

It's very simple to prepare and a great side dish or light lunch.

Weight out 100g of couscous per person in a large bowl. Drizzle with some good quality olive oil and mix the grains around to prevent it all sticking together.

Now, this is where I add all my flavours so that when I add the water, all the flavour is absorbed into the grains.

For this recipe, add about half a teaspoon of cumin (remember, add as much or as little as you like - it's entirely up to you), a good pinch of sea salt, plenty of ground black pepper, a pinch of dried chilli and a squeeze of lemon juice. This is also were I add a handful of frozen garden peas.

Give it all a good mix then add the water. You could measure the water if you could be bothered but I can't. Pour over boiling water to just cover the couscous, give it a good stir and leave it for a couple of minutes. The boiling water should be enough to defrost the peas and leave them lovely and sweet.

Next, chop some cooked lamb into bite-sized pieces. Today I'm using a left-over lamb shank but any off-cuts of leg, shoulder or neck will do just as well. Roughly chop some dates and a big handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley.

Check on your couscous. Give it another stir and it should start breaking up into tiny, plump grains. Once cooled, add your lamb, dates and parsley and mix it all together.

That's it! It couldn't be easier and there's really no cooking involved.

For the paella version, I substitute the cumin for smoked paprika and a pinch of turmeric and the lamb and dates for pieces of cooked chicken and prawns but as I mentioned, you can pretty much just make it up as you go along!

As always, any questions - just ask!

The Bloke

More Pictures Uploaded

2009-06-21T19:39:00.001+01:00

OK, I think I'm getting the hang of this Picasa lark. I've uploaded lots more photo's today including shots from various stages of the weekend's recipes - butterfly chicken breast with red pepper tagliatelle and today's lamb shanks.

There's even a picture of my Mum's gooseberry tree!

Check out all the images at http://tinyurl.com/lwsc6n

I will write the recipes for both of these up here as soon as I can, but as always, if anyone has any questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

The Bloke

Finally, food photos!!

2009-06-18T22:26:00.000+01:00

OK, I've been taking pictures as I've been preparing and cooking food. Even when it's resulted in injury (see cut finger picture - obviously avoid if you're cooking/eating/squeamish).

Anyway, I'm not entirely sure how to get them on this blog properly but I think I'm safe in posting this link to them:

http://picasaweb.google.com/blokeinthekitchen/Blokeinthekitchen#

Well, if it doesn't work then it's back to the drawing board.

Anyway, I'll eventually get the hang of this and I'll tag up the pictures to the appropriate recipes and it'll all become clear. Hopefully!

TTFN

The Bloke

Salmon With Pak Choi, Mushrooms and Noodles

2009-06-16T21:09:00.002+01:00

Another Bloke classic. Very simple but very tasty.

Season two skinless salmon fillets with sea salt and ground black pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil. Grill them under a hot grill for about 3 minutes on each side.

Meanwhile, roughly chop a couple of handfuls of mushrooms, about 3 cloves of garlic, a couple of heads of pak choi and one red chilli.

Get a big pan of salted water on the boil and add a couple of sheets of noodles. I use Sharwood's Medium Egg Noodles. They'll take 4 minutes to cook.

Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan and, when hot, add the mushrooms. Fry for about a minute then add the garlic, pak choi and chilli. Season with a good dose of ground black pepper. Don't add any salt here because the soy that you'll add shortly will be salty enough.

Give the frying pan a good toss and gently tease the noodles with a pair of tongs to separate them.

Add a couple of good glugs of soy sauce to the frying pan and bubble to thicken.

Drain the noodles, tip them into the frying pan and give it all a good toss.

Divide the noodles between two bowls and top each with a salmon fillet.

As those meerkats say on that advert: Simples!

The Bloke

Barbeque Lamb/Souvlaki With Tzatziki

2009-06-14T20:17:00.001+01:00

Ok, this started as souvlaki but the weather was so good today that I really didn't want to be in the kitchen for any longer than I needed so the boned shoulder of lamb went on the barbie in one piece!

Get a butcher to bone the shoulder of lamb. Put it in a large bowl and add a good couple of glugs of extra virgin olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, a couple of pinches of dried oregano, a finely chopped clove of garlic, about a tablespoon of finely chopped fresh rosemary and a good seasoning with salt and pepper.

Leave to marinade for an hour or so while you get on with the accompaniments.

Take about a quarter of a cucumber, peel it and grate it into a bowl lined with a could of sheets of kitchen paper. Gather the edges of the paper together, pick it up and squeeze all the water out. Tip the drained, grated cucumber into a clean bowl and add a tub of Greek yoghurt. Add a pinch of dried oregano, some finely chopped fresh mint, a glug of olive oil, a finely chopped clove of garlic and a splash of white wine vinegar. Give it all a good mix and put in the fridge.

Get your barbeque going.

Meanwhile, boil up a couple of handfuls of new potatoes for about 18 minutes, drain them into a colander and add a splash of olive oil to the pan. Chuck in a handful of finely chopped mint and add the potatoes back to the pan. Swirl the lot around, coating the potatoes with the mint and tip them back into the colander.

Next, courgettes. Slice a large courgette into disks, about 1cm thick, line them up on a board, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Get a griddle pan over a high heat and when it's smoking hot, lay the courgettes in the pan in a single layer. Leave them for about 2 minutes then flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes. Squeeze over a wedge of lemon and turn off the heat. Remove the courgettes from the pan and lay on a plate lined with a sheet of kitchen paper to drain and sprinkle with freshly chopped mint.

Your barbeque should be just about the right temperature now, with the coals white. Lay the lamb onto the barbeque, skin side down.

Cook for about 5 minutes on the first side then turn the lamb and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Keep turning every couple of minutes to avoid burning until cooked to your liking and serve with the cooled potatoes and courgettes, the tzatziki, a nice feta salad and some warmed pitta.

If you can be bothered and want to turn this into souvlaki, cut the lamb into chunks and marinade as before. Threat onto skewers barbeque or grill until nicely charred around the edges.

Happy barbequeing!

The Bloke

Spicy Chicken with Prawns and Pasta

2009-06-13T08:25:00.000+01:00

Another re-vamp of an old blokeinthekitchen classic.

Finely chop a small onion, two cloves of garlic and a whole red chilli. Sweat them all off in a saucepan with olive oil, a dash of salt and pepper and a teaspoon or so of paprika.

While the onion is softening, thinly slice a couple of chicken breasts and place them in a bowl. Add a generous glug of olive oil, a good pinch each of turmeric, cayenne pepper and paprika. Leave the bowl in the fridge while you get back to the sauce.

Once the onion has softened, add a tin of good quality tomatoes and simmer down until the sauce is nice and thick.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and chuck in your pasta. Give it a good stir once and leave it.

Set your timer for 7 minutes, take the chicken out of the fridge and get back to your sauce. Chuck in a good handful of cooked, peeled prawns and a large handful of roughly chopped parsley and stir them into the sauce.

When the 7 minutes is up, set the timer for another 5 minutes and put a griddle pan over a high heat. It should take a minute or so heat up. When it's nice and hot, add the chicken and sear on each side so you get nice char-lines across the chicken and it's cooked through.

When the 5 minutes is up, your pasta should be cooked. Drain it in a colander and tip it back into the pan. Add the sauce to the pasta, stirring it well then divide between two large pasta bowls. Divide the chicken between the bowls and finish with a couple of shavings of Parmesan.

Serve up with a crusty garlic baguette and a nice, crisp with wine.

Cheers!

The Bloke

Home-Made Burger and Chips

2009-06-11T21:28:00.001+01:00

Burgers are better when you make 'em yourself, so here goes.

Good quality minced beef - 500g of it or a pound (lb) in old money. Anyway, put it in large bowl and chuck in the following:

A couple of finely chopped spring onions
A finely chopped or crushed glove of garlic
A pinch (of your own choosing) of dried chilli flakes (or chopped fresh chilli if you can be bothered)
A good handful of chopped parsley
A good seasoning of sea salt and ground black pepper
One jolly good, free range egg.

Just as an aside, I'm not getting all Nigella on you here but when I say free range eggs, that's because cheap, battery eggs are horrible, nasty and barbaric. Not to mention that they taste rubbish.

Anyways, I digress.

OK, mix the contents of the bowl well. Shape the mixture into burgers either by hand (by getting a handful of mince, about the size of a tennis ball and pressing it flat - to a burger shape) or using a burger press (you can pick these up for about a fiver from Lakeland). Stick the burgers on a tray in the fridge while you sort out the chips.

Chuck a couple of handfuls of new potatoes into a pan of boiling salted water and boil for 10 minutes.

While I'm on the subject, why do people say par-boil? Shouldn't it just be boil? You can't even part-boil something because by virtue of the fact that it's boiling in water then you're boiling it.

Once again, I digress.

Drain the potatoes and leave them to cool slightly, until you can handle them. When cool enough, slice the potatoes however you fancy then heat up some olive oil in a large frying pan.

Meanwhile, put your grill on high and take the burgers out of the fridge.

When both the frying pan and grill are hot, add the potatoes to the pan and put the burgers under the grill.

Give the potatoes a good sprinkle of paprika and give them a toss every couple of minutes.

Keep your eye on the burgers and when the top looks nice and browned, flip 'em over and do the other side. Don't, whatever you do, however tempted, press the burgers with an implement of some sort. All you'll do is squeeze all the moisture out and you'll end up with coasters for burgers.

Toss the potatoes until they're crisp and golden. This should correspond with the burgers being ready and serve the burgers and chips with a nice, fresh salad. I also like a dollop of mustard and a bunch of jalapenos. Add cheese, onions, mushrooms or whatever takes your fancy.

These are great, quick and cheap and much better than going to MucDonalds any day of the week.

Remember, any questions on this or anything else cooking related, message me on Twitter @blokeinkitchen or Facebook.

Happy eating!

The Bloke

Pan-Fried Sea Bream

2009-06-07T20:24:00.001+01:00

The Missus and I had friends (Sles and Jac) round for dinner last night. I did prawn, chorizo and haloumi kebabs with rocket and a red chilli dressing followed by pan-fried sea bream with roasted Anya potatoes (which are, incidentally, my favourite potato), carrots, courgettes, sweet red peppers, red onion and garlic, finishing with Eton Mess, splendidly created by The Missus.

Anyway, here is the sea bream.

Get a fishmonger (and all decent supermarkets should now have one) to fillet, skin and bone your bream - one whole fish per person. You can do it yourself, and I did yesterday, but it's a messy stinky job and, well, if you can get someone else to do it, why the hell not?

Dunk each fillet into plain flour seasoned with salt and pepper, patting off any excess so the fish just has a fine coating. Put them on a plate, cover with cling film and put into the fridge until you're ready to cook.

Next, prepare your veg. Really, you can throw in anything you want. I par-boiled my potatoes for 10 minutes and the carrots for about 5 minutes then cut up the peppers and courgettes into two-inch chunks. Cut the red onion into wedges and chuck the whole lot into a large roasting dish with a handful of garlic cloves.

Drizzle the whole lot with a healthy dose of olive oil and season well with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Incidentally, if you hop over to my Twitter page @blokeinkitchen, the background image you see is the very dish from last night!

Put the dish into a pre-heated oven at 220 degrees (gas mark 7) for about 20-25 minutes. Just keep an eye on it. When it's ready it'll be nicely singed around the edges.

Take the fish out of the fridge when your veg has about 10 minutes to go.

When the veg is almost ready, get yourself a decent sized frying pan and drizzle in a little olive oil. Get it nice and hot then add your fish fillets and fry for just 1 minute on each side.

That's pretty much it. Plate it up and serve it up. Simple but very tasty and impressive.

If anyone wants any advice on filleting, skinning or pin-boning or want the recipes for the prawn kebabs or Eton Mess, just let me know.

The Bloke

It's a Grand Old Team

2009-06-07T15:41:00.001+01:00

Yesterday I purchased my first ever season ticket for the mighty Everton FC. My friend, Sles, and I got two tickets plumb in the middle of the lower Gwladys Street end of Goodison Park.

Pooky has never been to Goodison so we took her along as it was a good opportunity for her to see inside the stadium, albeit empty and with no turf!

We were taken in by one of the stewards and got to walk along the perimeter of the pitch. Once we'd chosen our seats, I asked the steward if I could take a picture of Erin in my seat before we left. He told me he could go one better and took us around the pitch to David Moyes' seat!

I took a couple of pictures of Pooky in the dug-out before Sles took one of me. Then the steward reached down to the pitch where there was still a little of the old turf and pulled out a chunk. He gave it to me so I took it home and dug out a chunk of our back lawn and replaced it with the piece of hallowed turf.

When Everton finally move to a new ground and Goodison is pulled down, there'll always be a part of the ground right in my back garden!

The Bloke

Good Old-Fashioned Chilli

2009-06-03T19:38:00.001+01:00

This is on the go as I type, with some jacket spuds in the oven, so here goes:

Brown 500g of good quality, lean minced beef in a large hot pan. Meanwhile, finely chop a stick of celery, a couple of carrots, an onion and a couple of cloves of garlic. Roughly chop a handful of mushrooms and about half a red pepper (I like the sweet pointed peppers from Tesco). As always with 'Bloke' recipes, just put in as much or as little as you like. Or leave stuff out that you don't like.

Anyway, when the mince is browned, and I mean browned - with nice little charred bits like if you were barbecuing a burger or searing a steak, drain any excess fat and add in the chopped veg.

When this starts to soften, add a tablespoon of paprika (which I think gives it a nice depth of flavour) and an appropriate dose of chilli flakes (p.s. I tend to use a lot of dried, crushed chilli simply because it's convenient and lasts longer than fresh chilli. I do use fresh chilli for things like salsa or if I'm not feeling so lazy).

Season with a good amount of freshly ground black pepper and sea salt and keep it all moving until the veg has softened down.

Next, add a 500g carton of passata (sieved tomatoes). I use this instead of tinned tomatoes in this sort of thing because I think it gives a better texture. Anyway, add the passata followed by half a carton of water.

At this point you might want to add kidney beans, as is the norm. I don't because The Missus doesn't like them. If you are going to add them, I'd recommend using a tin and giving them a good old rinse before you add them.

Give it all a good stir, bring to the boil and then simmer over a moderate heat for about 20 minutes, until the sauce is nice and rich.

That's pretty much it. As I mentioned, I'm doing this with jacket potatoes but it's also good with rice flavoured with turmeric and lots of ground black pepper. The turmeric gives it a good yellow colour.

That's all for now. I'm going to check on my potatoes. As always, any questions just post either here, on Twitter or over at Facebook.

Happy cooking!

The Bloke

King Prawn Linguine

2009-06-02T21:41:00.003+01:00

I've Tweeted about it enough and after having a variation of it at Zizzi in Liverpool last week, here's my interpretation.

It's actually only a modification of a Bloke household staple but the addition of the baby plum tomatoes has made a whole world of difference.

OK, here goes.

Sweat off half a finely chopped onion, a couple of finely chopped (or crushed) cloves of garlic and some dried chilli flakes (as much as you dare!) in olive oil with a pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper.

As the onion starts to soften, chuck in a couple of handfuls of baby plum tomatoes, each pricked with the point of a knife. Swirl them around in the oil and wait for them to split and release their juice into the sauce. When you like the look of the sauce, squeeze in a bit of lemon juice to taste.

Meanwhile, bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add your linguine. As a general rule of thumb, I tend to use half a standard size packet for two people. Give it a good stir with some tongs and forget about it for 9 minutes (it should take 11 minutes exactly to cook).

When your 9 minutes is up, heat some olive oil up in a wok and add your raw king prawns. Just use as many as you like. We don't get hung up on weights or measurements here at 'Bloke'. Of course, make sure they're cleaned, shells removed, de-veined, or whatever. PS. If anyone has any questions about preparation of prawns, or anything else for that matter, just message me via Twitter or Facebook or comment on this blog.

The prawns should cook in a couple of minutes then toss in the tomato sauce. Give it a good toss and add the linguine followed by a good couple of handfuls of freshly chopped parsley.

Toss the whole lot about a couple of times until well combined then serve with a wedge of lemon and a dry white wine. I'm on a 2007 South African Viognier.

The Bloke

Chilli Beef Stir Fry

2009-05-27T21:27:00.000+01:00

OK, here's the best thing I've done with left-over roast beef. Apart from sandwiches, that is.

Get yourself a really sharp knife and slice the beef as thinly as you can, like shavings. Stick the shredded beef into a bowl and drench in soy sauce mixed with a little cornflour - as much as you like, to be honest. Then add some finely chopped garlic, dried chilli flakes and some five-spice. Again, just use as much as you like.

Next, heat some sunflower oil in a wok and bring some salted water to the boil in a large pan. I usually just grab a bag of stir-fry veg from the supermarket because I can't be bothered cutting up bits of carrot, cabbage, mushrooms and whatnot. It makes the whole process much quicker.

Anyway, get a couple of sheets of dried noodles (I use Sharwoods medium egg noodles) into your boiling water for 4 minutes, using some tongs after about 30 seconds to make sure the noodles are separated.

Then chuck your veg into the hot wok and toss them about in the hot oil. After a couple of minutes, tip the beef and the marinade into the veg and toss the whole lot about.

When the 4 minutes is us, drain the noodles in a colander and add them to the wok. Toss the whole lot around and that's your lot.

Divide up into warmed bowls and serve. As that meerkat off of the telly says, simples!

By the way, you don't need left-over beef for this. You can use very thinly cut steak or chicken or prawns for this. Just remember you may need a minute or two more for chicken to cook through depending on how thinly you've cut it.

The Bloke

Back To (Proper) Work - Well, Almost

2009-05-27T21:18:00.000+01:00

It was a return to my day job today. Well, not quite. Today was the start of the PHM Taxi Show in Coventry's Ricoh Arena where displays of all things taxi are, well, displayed.

As in my real job I'm charged with flogging taxi insurance online, I was down there shaking hands, taking details and handing out goodie-bags.

Needless to say, lunch wasn't up to much however the pastrami, cheese and mustard sandwich was surprisingly tasty.

And so home and dinner. The left-over beef I mentioned in an earlier post made a cracking stir-fry and I'll give you all the details in a minute or two.

It just remains for me to say that I'm enjoying a nice cold pinot grigio while watching the latest round of upper-class twits being incompetent on The Apprentice.

T'ra for now.

The Bloke

Half-Term Holidays

2009-05-26T20:15:00.001+01:00

Well, it's half-term and we've had a nice day out.

First to the Odeon at Liverpool One to see Night at the Museum 2. I'm not sure it was as good as the first one but still quite entertaining. Steve Coogan riding a squirrel was rather amusing. Pooky liked it anyway.

Then it was a mooch round town where I picked up some reusable ice cubes and a chef's candle from Lakeland along with a Smiths guitar tab book from Dolphin.

Finally, lunch at Zizzi in Liverpool One. We had a decent antipasto with meats, olives, bread, oils and mozzarella, followed by linguine gamberi with tomato and chilli. It was pretty good and I'll try to recreate the recipe some time, probably next week. As soon as I do, I'll post it here.

Anyway, I'm just settling down to a glass of white Merlot and it's been a busy day so I'll sign out for now.

TTFN

The Bloke

Boiled Eggs With Asparagus Soldiers

2009-05-25T18:21:00.001+01:00

Very simple but classy breakfast.

Two fresh, free range organic eggs per person - freely available from supermarkets, farmers markets or good butchers.

Asparagus spears - as many per person as you feel like. In season at the moment and best used as fresh as possible.

Pancetta rashers - bought from Tesco. Again, get as many as you need - one rasher per two asparagus spears.

OK, here goes. Cut each rasher of pancetta length-wise then wrap each asparagus spear with a piece of pancetta. When you've done them all, place the asparagus in an oven-proof dish and drizzle over a little olive oil. Place the dish in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees (gas mark 4) while you get on with the eggs.

Now, there are many theories about boiling eggs and I've struggled in the past but I've finally found a fool-proof way of getting perfect boiled eggs every time.

First thing is to have good, fresh eggs and make sure they're at room temperature before you start.

Next is to get yourself an Egg-Perfect Egg Timer. This little gadget is absolutely brilliant (unlike those floaty egg poaching pouches which are completely useless).

You put the eggs into a pan with room-temperature water along with the Egg-Perfect Egg Timer and bring to the boil. The Egg-Perfect Egg Timer changes colour and indicates when the eggs are perfectly cooked and amazingly it works a treat.

Serve the eggs in a cut-up egg box for a bit of rustic charm along with the asparagus soldiers and a sprinkle of sea salt. Classy!

The Bloke

Bank Holiday Bliss

2009-05-25T18:04:00.001+01:00

Well, it's been another lovely day here on Merseyside. I've watched our yearly visitors, the housemartins (nothing to do with Paul Heaton and Norman Cook) who have a mud nest on top of our alarm box. They arrive every spring and dazzle us with their aerobatic displays.

After a lovely breakfast of boiled eggs with asparagus spears wrapped in pancetta (recipe to follow) it was in to the garden for a bit more gardening and more fun and games with the girls.

We nearly had a disaster when a shuttlecock nearly took The Missus's eye out but there was no (real) harm done.

The weather took a bit of a turn mid-afternoon so we retreated indoors where the roast beef was already in the oven (recipe also to follow).

Dinner was followed by a bit of Pikimin 2 on the Wii. Pooky has just gone for her bath with The Missus so I'm taking the opportunity to do a bit of blogging while watching Sky Sports News. Congratulations to Burnley, by the way and genuine heart-felt commiserations to The Blades.

I think Owen Coyle is a great manager and should, heaven-forbid Mr Moyes gets tempted by Celtic or United, then Coyle would be a good tip for the Goodison hot-seat.

Anyway, those olives I marinaded earlier (once again, recipe on it's way) will do just fine later tonight and I there's half a chicken in the fridge which will go just nicely, thank you very much!

TTFN

The Bloke

Ups and Downs on Survival Sunday

2009-05-24T21:20:00.001+01:00

Everton claimed fifth spot with a 2 nil win against Fulham - their first win at Craven Cottage since 1966 (not 1066 as I originally typed...)

Villa beat Newcastle to condem them to a season in the Championship but it wasn't enough for the Villains who finished sixth.

Boro compounded the North East's miserable day with their defeat to West Ham who have just missed out on Europa League football next season.

Well, it's not over for Everton with the FA Cup final against Chelsea next week. I was at the semi final when we defeated Manchester United on penalties but due to the FA's lovely ticketing policy, I've not been able to get a ticket for the final.

Anyway, all I can say on the subject is 'COYB'!!

The Bloke

It's a Sunny Day...

2009-05-24T21:04:00.003+01:00

Well, what can I say?! The weather has taken a turn for the better and there's been tears at bedtime in the Premier League.

It finally stopped raining long enough for me to mow the grass and it was a good opportunity for me to move my sprouting plants from the conservatory to the garden.

I've planted the courgettes, leeks, Brussell sprouts and tomatoes, along with Pooky's broad bean which she started growing in school and has come on leaps and bounds. I'm still half hoping that I'll be able to climb up it and bag myself a couple of golden eggs, but I'm not holding my breath.

Anyway, the roast beef got the elbow in favour of a barbecue - well, you have to take the chance when it presents itself in these here parts.

We started with the obligatory burgers, followed by a couple of nice Lincolnshire sausages and finished off with some haloumi on the griddle pan. We did have some steaks on standby but with the panini and salad, we'd already had our fill.

There was probably more I wanted to say but there's always tomorrow.

I'm just settling down with a nice Chilean Chardonnay and the latest episode of the brilliant Come Dine With Me. Narrator Dave Lamb is a comedy genius.

More tomorrow. TTFN.

The Bloke

Bloke In The Facebook

2009-05-24T10:54:00.000+01:00

I finally managed to get the blokeinthekitchen Facebook page up and running.....

The Bloke

The Bloke Is Back!

2009-05-23T21:28:00.001+01:00

Well, it's been a while but The Bloke is back.

After a bit of a do with my previous hosting company over the registration and hosting of http://www.blokeinthekitchen.com/, along with other work committments and suchlike, 'bloke' had to take something of a backseat.

Now though, through the miracle of the social network, blokeinthekitchen is reborn - bigger, better and, most importantly where I'm concerned, free-er (if that's really a word).

Anyway, for those of you who remember the original blokeinthekitchen, there'll be more great recipes written in a plain and simple way that anyone - any bloke - can understand. No poncey words or fancy terms - just easy, straight-forward cooking.

Right, I'm still in the process of setting up my various profiles. Please follow my updates on Twitter at http://twitter.com/blokeinkitchen and I'm almost done with my new Facebook page.

Watch this space!

The Bloke